Rohit Sharma has once again created history. He already owned the rare record of being the only international cricketer to score two ODI double centuries, but on Wednesday, in Mohali, Rohit etched out a special place for himself in history by becoming the first-ever cricketer to score three double centuries.
Using just 151 deliveries to get to the 200-run mark, captain Rohit guided his team to a mammoth 392 in 50 overs against the hapless Sri Lankans. The very same team that had humiliated India in Mohali just three days back.
While Rohit already holds the world record for the highest total against Sri Lanka, at 264 runs, he now placed his name on the second spot in the list as well with the unbeaten 208 in Mohali.
His 264 against Sri Lanka was scored in Kolkata back in 2014.
Rohit Sharma’s other double ton was against the mighty Australians when he smashed 209 in Bengaluru in 2013.
In all, seven double hundreds have been scored in one-day cricket and apart from Rohit, Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Martin Guptill and Chris Gayle are on the honours list.
Rohit's 208 not out against Sri Lanka today is the second highest individual score by a captain in ODIs with Sehwag's 219 against West Indies in Indore back in 2011 still topping the charts.
Team India – who respected the conditions and began cautiously, crawling to 33-0 in the first ten overs – then added 359 runs in the remaining 50 overs to finish with 392-4 – the highest total in ODIs in Mohali. Rohit Sharma, who enthralled fans with his strokeplay and with his six-hitting, also needs to be applauded for the way he paced his innings. He was slow to get off the blocks – scoring at a strike-rate of 46.88 in the first ten overs, but then accelerated as he grew in confidence. Once past the hundred run mark, it was as if he switched into overdrive mode; there came a period when he raced from 116 to 159 with seven consecutive sixes.
During Wednesday’s knock, Rohit Sharma also set the record for the most sixes hit by an Indian captain in an ODI innings; the earlier record was jointly held by Sourav Ganguly and Virender Sehwag, who had hit seven sixes each in their innings of 135* and 219 respectively.
Rohit Sharma also obliterated another Indian record which was held by Sachin Tendulkar; by hitting 13 sixes on Wednesday, he took his tally of sixes in ODIs in 2017 to 42 – which is the most hit by an Indian batsman in ODIs in a calendar year.
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